This invention relates to nutritional supplements. Features of the invention include the provision in multi-vitamin and/or mineral supplements of ingredients and micro-nutrients to facilitate reduction of cholesterol, and/or reduction of homocysteine, and/or reduction of low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) oxidation in humans. In particular, the invention relates to multi-vitamin and/or mineral supplements which include at least one component known to reduce cholesterol.
It has long been established that a number of chemical compounds typically referred to as vitamins and minerals provide significant value to maintaining an individual in a healthy state and/or treating specific medical conditions even when supplied in relatively small amounts. Over the years a number of such vitamins and minerals have been identified. For example, vitamins include A, C, D, E and the family of B vitamins and minerals include iron, zinc, calcium and chromium. The human body does not synthesize most of these compounds which are essential to maintaining the health of the human body. Thus these necessary vitamins and minerals must be obtained from an external source. The two most common external sources are foods and nutritional supplements. Food is typically the primary source of obtaining the necessary nutrients; however, the majority of people do not eat foods that consistently provide the necessary daily requirements of vitamins and minerals. Thus, vitamin and mineral nutritional supplementation has become a recognized method of meeting accepted medical and health standards.
While certain vitamins and minerals have been shown to be essential for maintaining an individual's health, the use of vitamin and mineral nutritional supplementation has afforded the possibility to include micro-nutrients which, although not absolutely essential to maintaining health, provide significant benefit towards maintaining health. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,800 to Cooper et al. provides for a multi-vitamin supplement preparation with a composition of micro-nutrients which is purported to decrease plasma homocysteine levels and plasma glucose levels.
A significant health concern to many individuals is the problem of high cholesterol. While many medications are available for treating this problem, most of the common medications require doctor's supervision for use and are relatively expensive. Certainly a doctor's care and use of these medications in cases of highly elevated or chronically elevated cholesterol are very important but the medications are used when the cholesterol level is a serious health threat.
Some herbal/natural vitamin and/or mineral and/or nutritional compositions that contain phytosterols, compounds which are believed to facilitate cholesterol reduction, are commercially available. However, the efficiency of these herbal/natural product compositions for reducing cholesterol is questionable as they typically contain 20 to 50 mg of phytosterol per dose. This is substantially below the amount that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) recognizes as an efficacious dose of phytosterol for reducing cholesterol levels. In 21 CFR 101.83 dated Feb. 14, 2003, the FDA indicates that 800 mg/day is the lowest effective intake of the phytosterols to reduce risk of coronary heart disease.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a convenient, practical and relatively inexpensive way to facilitate reducing cholesterol levels, and/or reducing homocysteine, and/or decreasing LDL-C oxidation in humans before the cholesterol reaches a level to become a serious health threat.